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It’s the last day of school at the Mountain Academy’s 2024-2025 school year and Sean Groenstein sits at an almost-empty desk, across from a framed photo of his graduating middle school class.
His memories of the school go way back, when, as a toddler his mother drove past construction workers still moving dirt down a winding road off Highway 22.
She pointed into the canyon and told him in Spanish and English, “Mi-ho! Eso va a ser tu nuevo colegio. That’s going to be your new school,’” Groenstein said.
The 23-year-old graduated from the school in 2020. Now he has a tough job cut out for him leading admissions and enrollment for Teton Science Schools’ private Jackson day school.
The school began the year with just under 30 students in kindergarten through eighth grade.
Even leadership acknowledges that the Jackson campus has struggled recently.
“Different people will tell you different things about the decline of this place,” Groenstein said.
In one of the country’s most expensive, housing-scarce regions, the school says low teacher pay has meant high turnover. That’s reflected in declining enrollment.
In its last year, Mountain Academy’s high school graduated just 10 seniors. For comparison, that year, a nearby private school, Jackson Hole Community School, had almost 30 graduates and the public school had just over 200. In 2024, the high school shut down due to several years of low enrollment.
Tucked inside Coyote Canyon, Mountain Academy’s campus is reached by a winding path. Built in 2005, the campus includes dorms on the left used by students visiting for outdoor education and a dining hall on the right.
(Ella Wallace / KHOL)
Groenstein is determined to help the school change.
“If we can invest ahead of next school year, then enrollment numbers will follow,” Groenstein said.
The school hopes to mirror the success of its Teton Valley Campus. Across Teton Pass in Idaho, enrollment is full, with waitlists in multiple grades.
“They often have to turn away some students,” Groenstein said, “families will apply a couple of years in advance.”
For the Jackson campus, next year will bring new hires, and cheaper tuition, according to Executive Director Wayne Turner.
“We raise money every day for providing tuition assistance [for] students that otherwise wouldn’t be able to meet the tuition needs,” Turner said.
Turner, like Groenstein, has a long-standing relationship with the school. In 1986, he participated in the high school field ecology program.
This was already nearly 20 years after school founder Ted Major had a vision of getting high schoolers into nature during the summer and teaching the ecology of the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem.
Turner earned a degree in biology because it was the closest thing he could think to his field ecology experience in Grand Teton National Park.
“I loved the Science School so much that every summer during college I worked for the Science Schools” he said.
Teton Science Schools grew its reputation as a place for learners of all different kinds. Local kids come for day school, now called Mountain Academy, and thousands of kids from across the country stay in dorms on campus for immersion in outdoor education.
Turner is now at the helm for big changes.
This year, it costs $5,000 less to send a kid to day school, though tuition costs are still almost $30,000 a year. Leadership also hopes parents can use state money for private education, that’s up to $7,000 per child annually. State lawmakers expanded an existing scholarship this year, though as of late June, distribution is tied up in court. The school also offers what Turner calls a “money-back guarantee.”
“That puts the pressure on us to deliver the world’s best program and curriculum,” Turner said.
Teachers are also getting paid more this upcoming school year.
Mountain Academy’s lower school features a newly fenced play area, where students learn outside. (Ella Wallace / KHOL)
“We have been known to be under-salaried and we want to be competitive,” Turner said.
Turner says his teachers will now earn 80% of a public school salary, which starts just under $70,000, according to the Teton County School District’s website.
Turner points to the return of former teacher, Chris Bessonette, who, after leaving the public elementary school decorated with the Milken Award, is set to be his head of school on the Jackson campus.
Groenstein said K-8 is already showing signs of improvement, with this September’s enrollment nearly double last year’s.
“I really have no doubt at all that we will succeed and that this momentum will carry us into a very, very bright future” he said.
